The classic multi-space photography exhibition in Madrid is going to immerse itself in Latin America for its 18th edition, following the trend from last year to have a geographical theme for each edition. Let’s see some of the proposals that are part of the official section.

One of them is “Print and detonate. Photography in Mexico ca. 2015’, which offers a vision of the deep social and political transformations that the country has endured in the last few years through a selection of excellent photos by local photographers. You can see it at CentroCentro Cibeles, Plaza de Cibeles, 1, from Tuesday to Saturday from 10.00am until 8.00pm. Entry is free.

The stand-up comedy genre has slowly found its place in Madrid, this time to stay, and the city already has many comedy clubs that only put on stand-up shows. Here are a few suggestions:

La Chocita del Loro, on Gran Vía, 70, is the perfect place to combine a few laughs with some drinks. The club preserves the magic of its previous life, Teatro Senador, one of the many theatres that used to exist on Gran Vía and today you can enjoy many different stand-up comedians every single day. La Chocita has seen all the main and most famous Spanish comedians, actors and presenters on its stage so it is worth paying the 17€ (without a drink) that it costs to get in.

If there is something that locals and tourists agree about Madrid, is that the city is a place open to any kind of trend. Madreat is one of those initiatives that push Madrid to become more and more similar to other cities that are more avant-garde in culture and leisure such as New York, Berlin or London.

Madreat, an essential event in Madrid’s gastronomic calendar, is a street market, a fashion that started in Los Angeles and that has slowly established itself in all European capitals. Madreat takes place every third weekend of the month at the AZCA complex, a unique urban and architectonic framework that is Madrid’s financial centre during weekdays.

As tribute to Madrid’s patron saint, San Isidro Labrador, a festival is organised that occur in a parallel way to the city’s activity. It is a traditional festival but it cannot be compared to the Fallas or San Fermín, which brings the city to a standstill; in fact, there are many locals that do not even know that the festival is going on.

That is why you must be alert to the programme in order not to miss any of the most important events. One of them, not advised for those who do not enjoy big crowds, is the traditional pilgrimage of the 15th of May, the day of San Isidro, a bank holiday in the Spanish capital. It takes place in the fields that surround the saint’s chapel, in the Carabanchel district, an event which then turns into a massive picnic that obviously includes plenty of the city’s favourite dish: the cocido. The climax comes at midday, with the mass that takes place in the catholic temple of the Real Colegiata de San Isidro, followed by the blessing of the waters of an annexed spring by the Archbishop of Madrid.

Some say that you cannot eat a good paella in Madrid, because there is no way you can enjoy this delicious Valencian dish far from the beaches. Proof that this notion is wrong is the existence of restaurants like El Ventorrillo Murciano, in the Antón Martín district (Calle Tres Peces, 20), which offers excellent rice dishes (arroz a banda, arroz negro, rice with Murcian sausage…). It is a popular and busy place with some traditional twists, so it’s worth booking a table in advance, which you can do by calling +34 91 5288309.

Younger and modern is Rice Bar La Bomba, on Calle Augusto Figueroa, 33 (Chueca). It is a relatively new restaurant that uses a unique procedure to cook its rices, using the vacuum technique that shortens cooking times and gives it a unique result. As well as rices, there are famous dishes like the Russian salad, butifarra de Rovira (pork sausage) and Pavlovas for dessert, a dessert made of meringue that has even made some printed media in the Spanish capital.

The ‘laCaixa’ FotoPress exhibition reaches its 19th edition, on this occasion reflecting on the role of photography in a world saturated by images. Through ten projects gathered for this exhibition, the visitor can access new ways of understanding the photographic resource and its use to tell us about subjects like identity, violence, life in the slums, etc.

It is about work by photographers, who are not necessarily professional, who have had the supervision of tutors from the Magnum agency, with whom they have elaborated a photo album. It is a step further from photojournalism that will interest all the restless souls, with an option of a guided tour for 3 euros that you can request here.

It has been confirmed, albeit without scientific approval, that the human remains found in the Convent of Las Trinitarias in Madrid may have been those of Miguel de Cervantes, the famous author of El Quijote whose second part is 400 years old this year. We know where he died, in the street that bears his name, at number 2, in Madrid, and also where he was born, in Alcalá de Henares in 1547, although the exact place is still unclear.

However, in his hometown is the house where, after many studies, it is believed that the so-called Prince of Wit was born in. Entrance is free and the visit allows you to discover a classic Castilian house from the 16th century, with the added bonus of imagining Cervantes there running around it. It opens from Tuesday to Sunday, from 10.00am until 6.00pm, with last entry at 5.30pm. Information and bookings number: +32 918 899 654.

The Uffizi in Italy, the Thyssen in Spain… the great art collections, which later became museums, emerged due to the love that the great families of that time felt for art, on which they invested vast sums of money.

Following the trail of those great collectors, Juan Abelló and his wife Anna Gamazo are known not just for their business dealings but also for their fantastic art collection that, for the first time, is being shown to the public. The works of art, a total of 160, can be seen in the CentroCentro space inside the Palacio de Comunicaciones, on Plaza de Cibeles, 1, as part of an exhibition called Patronage at the Service of Art (Mecenazgo al servicio del arte in Spanish), which allows you to see works of artists such as Berruguete, Zurbarán, Murillo, Degas, Sorolla, Picasso, Miró and Dalí, among other geniuses.

It’s probable that films like #Chef, which praises the art of the sandwich in all of its splendour with the speciality of the Cuban sandwich, made with love and a soft mixture of meat, cheeses and sauce, have increased the value of the normal, traditional sandwich. In any case, in Madrid there are many places that are starting to appear and in which the sandwich stops being just any normal kind of dish and becomes the star of the menu.

One of these places is Crumb, on Conde Duque, 8, where you can choose among different types of home-baked bread with interesting fillings. In this world of the mega-offer, we are grateful for its limited menu, which includes only eight types of sandwich, always accompanied by potato side dishes, sweet potato or salad. One of their best sandwiches is the sardine sandwich with tapenade, cherry tomatoes, lettuce and mayo, although another excellent option is the oriental roast beef one, with rocket, cherry tomatoes, pickles and a sauce that mixes mayo and mustard. Delicious.

It is not the most central museum in Madrid although it is well worth going to it to Moncloa, from where you just have a short walk to get there. Firstly, it is well worth visiting for its permanent collection, which is not so permanent as its name might imply because it is renovated every so often.

This part of the Costume Museum, or Museo del Traje in Spanish, offers a tour back in time and history’s relation with costumes, since before the 17th century until today. Meanwhile, exact replicas of outfits such as the funerary trousseau of Princess Maria, daughter of King Fernando III, who died at the age of five. It travels through other times such as Classicism or social classes like the bourgeoisie and it reaches costumes made by prestigious designers like Paco Rabanne, Cristóbal Balenciaga or samples by lesser-known yet experienced designers such as Philippe Laporte.